Our national leadership team

The UK DRI brings together multidisciplinary expertise in dementia research, in programmes of work shaped and delivered through a team of directors. Our leadership team work collaboratively to form the scientific strategy of the institute, and ensure it meets its ambitious goals, reporting to the UK DRI Board of Trustees chaired by William Rucker.

Bart De Strooper - UK DRI Director

National director, based at UK DRI at UCL

Professor Bart De Strooper is a world-renowned Alzheimer's disease researcher, formerly based at the KU Leuven in Belgium. He was Director at the Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie and led a neuroscience department of over 250 researchers. Professor De Strooper’s research has focused on understanding the fundamental mechanisms that underlie Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. He is the recipient of several prestigious prizes in recognition of his work, such as the Potamkin prize, the Metlife Foundation Award for Medical Research and the Alois Alzheimer’s prize.

Dr Adrian Ivinson - UK DRI Director, Operations

National director, based at UK DRI HQ at UCL

Dr Adrian Ivinson completed his undergraduate and graduate training in the UK before moving to the US where for eight years he was part of the Nature Publishing Group, including Editor of Nature Medicine and Publisher of the Nature monthly journals. He joined Harvard Medical School in 2001 as the founding Director of the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center. After 12 years leading the centre, Dr Ivinson took the position of Director of Translational Research, allowing him to focus on those programmes with a more overt translational emphasis, and transitioned to Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Giovanna Mallucci - Cambridge

Associate Director UK DRI at The University of Cambridge

Professor Giovanna Mallucci is Professor of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge and an Honorary Consultant Neurologist at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, specialising in dementia. She combines clinical work and basic research, having previously led groups in the MRC Prion Unit and MRC Toxicology Unit. Her research is advancing understanding of common mechanisms in neurodegenerative diseases and pioneering the development of interventions targeting these pathways for the treatment for dementia. Professor Mallucci has received numerous awards for her work, including a SciAm50 award for leadership in research as one of the top 50 scientific innovators worldwide.

Julie Williams - Cardiff

Associate DirectorUK DRI at Cardiff University

Professor of Neuropsychological Genetics at Cardiff University and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Welsh Government since 2013, Professor Julie Williams is a world renowned expert in the genetics of Alzheimer’s disease. Having led global studies identifying new Alzheimer’s disease risk genes, her collaborative discovery of three such genes was recognised by TIME Magazine as one of the top ten medical breakthroughs of 2009. Julie is one of four leaders of the International Genomics of Alzheimer’s Project (IGAP) and Deputy Director for the MRC Dementias Platform UK (DPUK). She was awarded a CBE in 2012 for her contribution to Alzheimer’s research.

Giles Hardingham - Edinburgh

Associate DirectorUK DRI at The University of Edinburgh

As Professor of Molecular Neurobiology at the University of Edinburgh, Giles Hardingham’s research looks into signalling between neurons and glia in the brain. His aim is to characterise the interactions that maintain brain homeostasis, and how these mechanisms break down in diseases that cause dementia. Having started his career at the University of Cambridge, Professor Hardingham worked at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology before moving to Edinburgh, obtaining a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, and latterly a MRC Senior Non-Clinical Research Fellowship. Professor Hardingham is a former EMBO Young Investigator and Colworth Medal winner.

Paul Matthews - Imperial

Associate DirectorUK DRI at Imperial College London

Professor Paul Matthews is Head of the Division of Brain Sciences in the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London. He was the founding director of two internationally leading research imaging centres, the University of Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Imaging of the Brain and later, the GlaxoSmithKline Clinical Imaging Centre. As well as extensive academic experience, Professor Matthews served as Vice President of GlaxoSmithKline Medicines Discovery and Development between 2005 and 2014, and currently leads the imaging network for DPUK. His research aims to translate advances in brain imaging into clinical applications in neuroscience, including accelerating drug development. Professor Matthews was awarded an OBE in 2008 for services to neuroscience.

Chris Shaw - King's

Associate DirectorUK DRI at King’s College London

In addition to being Professor of Neurology and Neurogenetics at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London, Professor Chris Shaw is also Head of Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Director of the Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute and an Honorary Consultant at King’s College Hospital. Following clinical training in New Zealand, Chris developed his research career at the University of Cambridge before moving to King’s where his research focuses on the genetic, molecular and cellular basis of motor neurone disease and frontotemporal dementia. His team has discovered many new genes that highlight the major disease pathways and present new therapeutic opportunities. Chris has received lots of recognition for his work, including the Sheila Essey Award.

Nick Fox - UCL

Associate Director (interim)UK DRI at UCL

Professor Nick Fox's first degree was in Physics and Physiology from Cambridge. He subsequently graduated with honours in medicine from the University of London and then specialised in cognitive neurology. Nick's clinical interests are focussed on young onset and familial dementias. His research is aimed at improving diagnosis and treatment of cognitive problems. Nick has been involved in research on MRI use in Alzheimer's disease and related disorders for the last ten years. He has shown that AD has a pre-symptomatic period where hippocampal and global cerebral atrophy are already established and accelerating, and that subtle cognitive deficits pre-date overt symptoms.

David Sharp - Care Research & Technology at Imperial

Associate DirectorUK DRI Care Research & Technology at Imperial College London

Professor David Sharp is a National Institute of Health Research Professor and consultant neurologist based at Imperial College London. He has a degree in Psychology, Physiology and Philosophy from the University of Oxford (1993), a degree in Medicine from the Universities of Oxford and London (1996), and a PhD from the University of London (2006). He was appointed to an NIHR Professorship in 2012 and his programme of research aims to improve clinical outcome after traumatic brain injury. The work focuses on common cognitive impairments in domains such as memory and attention. He uses advanced neuroimaging to diagnose the underlying cause of these cognitive problems, particularly focusing on the effect of brain injury on brain network function and the role of inflammation in brain repair.